Loah :: Ensemble

Conor Walsh :: 1979–2016

Conor Walsh was a minimalist piano and electro acoustic composer from Swinford, Co. Mayo, Ireland. He began composing as a teenager, writing short piano pieces on an old piano that sits in the reception room of a hundred year old hotel. Inspired by the wild Mayo landscapes in the West of Ireland, Conor’s work was dramatically stark yet soothing, melancholic yet hopeful. His compositions drew from a variety of genre’s that span Minimalist to IDM, Chopin to Tool and have been likened to the music of Hauschka, Aphex Twin, Nils Frahm and Philip Glass.

Conor performed at Electric Picnic, Body and Soul, Another Love Story, and Other Voices in Dingle and Derry, having won the online competition to perform in the IMRO OtherRoom at Other Voices Derry 2014, which was then broadcast on RTÉ. He also appeared on 2015 series of TG4’s Ceol ar an Imeall, and opened for Hozier on a sold out Irish tour in Waterford, Cork and Limerick in 2013.

Conor’s music has also been used in RTÉ television Prime Time, Radio One, TV3 and R na G documentaries as well as the viral short film Analogue people in a digital age from Twopair films. Conor also score the short film Testimony, directed by Kamila Dydyna.

These past few years Conor was composing, experimenting, and crafting his sound while waiting until he was fully ready to put out his first release. The Front EP is the culmination of that work, and was released via Ensemble Records digitally and on 12” vinyl on 30.10.2015.

Conor tragically passed away on 11.03.2016 in his home due to a sudden heart attacked. He leaves a small but lasting musical legacy and will be dearly missed by his family, friends, and the wider music community. It was an absolute privelage to work with him. Thank you, Conor.